Robert Pakington

Robert Pakington (1489-13 November 1536) was a London merchant and Member of Parliament. He was killed by an assassin with a handgun in 1536, the first handgun murder in London.

Biography
Robert Pakington was born in Stanford-on-Teme, Worcestershire, England in 1489, and he worked for the Mercers' Company for years; from 1527 to 1528, he served as warden of the company. He was elected to Parliament in a by-election in October 1533 and was re-elected in 1536, and he revealed anti-clerical sentiments due to his Protestant sympathies and his friendship with Thomas Cromwell. On 13 November 1536, while crossing the street from his home in Cheapside to attend the Mercers' Chapel, he found the street blocked by a man with a cart. After the man got Pakington to identify himself, he retrieved a pistol from the haystack on his cart and shot Pakington once in the head, killing him.